motherscratcher wrote:Well, I applaud your fortitude and confidence that, if you were a gay professional athlete, you wouldn't have felt the need to hide it and we could have gotten this out I the way a decade ago. Especially considering that literally zero pro athletes decided to "just be themselves" until a few days ago, even though it apparently would have been no big deal.

I'm just saying that Collins didn't make this a story. Collins recognized that this would BE a story and reasonable decided to get out in front of it.

My, you've got a burr in your britches today.

I was simply responding to what I would do IF I were in his position AND decided to come out of the closet. Honestly, if it were me, I'd probably stay in the closet cuz who needs the bullshit, but Option 1 isn't really part this discussion. This isn't about whether or not he comes out, but how he chooses to do so.

Maybe getting in front of it is what he's doing, you'll have to pardon me noticing the situation and not automatically hailing him a New Age Warrior Poet. If he wasn't a 34 year old Free Agent who is set for life if he plays again or not, maybe I'd be less cynical. I wonder if he makes The Announcement if he's a 26 year old player in the middle of a contract.

motherscratcher wrote:Well, I applaud your fortitude and confidence that, if you were a gay professional athlete, you wouldn't have felt the need to hide it and we could have gotten this out I the way a decade ago. Especially considering that literally zero pro athletes decided to "just be themselves" until a few days ago, even though it apparently would have been no big deal.

I'm just saying that Collins didn't make this a story. Collins recognized that this would BE a story and reasonable decided to get out in front of it.

My, you've got a burr in your britches today.

Yeah, I guess. Sorry

Hikohadon wrote:I was simply responding to what I would do IF I were in his position AND decided to come out of the closet. Honestly, if it were me, I'd probably stay in the closet cuz who needs the bullshit, but Option 1 isn't really part this discussion. This isn't about whether or not he comes out, but how he chooses to do so.

Maybe getting in front of it is what he's doing, you'll have to pardon me noticing the situation and not automatically hailing him a New Age Warrior Poet. If he wasn't a 34 year old Free Agent who is set for life if he plays again or not, maybe I'd be less cynical. I wonder if he makes The Announcement if he's a 26 year old player in the middle of a contract.

And regardless his motives, it was still a brave move.

I was actually more responding to Spin than anything with his "the guy's just looking for attention on the back end of his career" theory based on absolutely nothing.

aside from that the idea he could/should have just started being publicly gay and wait for people to notice is kind of absurd.

I'm not hailing him as a new age warrior poet. I'm just saying that what he has done is important, but is also a reasonable way from him to have done it. And there's no reason not to take him at his word as far as his motives.

OldDawg wrote:Bottom line is, IF we accept that there is a God, then we don't get to make the rules.

That's part of the problem - God (if he/she exists) hasn't said what the rules are.

The "rules" as they are were created by people 1000 to 3000 years ago, depending on what Testament you're referring to and which version (re-write) of the Bible it is. And if some dude from 3000 years ago claims that he is speaking on behalf of God - that God told him this or that - I tend to be very skeptical.

The Old Testament was handed down from God in a mass revelation. It wasn't one man repeating what God had told him personally (which is what all other books and religions are based on - one man's word), it was witnessed by millions. History can obscure many things, but something which can be attested to by so many is hard to skew.

OldDawg wrote:Bottom line is, IF we accept that there is a God, then we don't get to make the rules.

That's part of the problem - God (if he/she exists) hasn't said what the rules are.

The "rules" as they are were created by people 1000 to 3000 years ago, depending on what Testament you're referring to and which version (re-write) of the Bible it is. And if some dude from 3000 years ago claims that he is speaking on behalf of God - that God told him this or that - I tend to be very skeptical.

The Old Testament was handed down from God in a mass revelation. It wasn't one man repeating what God had told him personally (which is what all other books and religions are based on - one man's word), it was witnessed by millions. History can obscure many things, but something which can be attested to by so many is hard to skew.

These... millions... that you speak of, uh, happen to have evidence of that that isn't based on the authors' word?

In other words, any evidence of these millions of eye witness accounts outside of the Bible itself?

Hikohadon wrote:Seems like it should be no big deal, but then you read the comments to the story and get convinced that there's a shitload of people out there that are medical miracles since it seems that they're too stupid to breathe and have their heart beat at the same time.

I'm not familiar with Collins, but good for him. I do think that he will encounter far more support than otherwise. I hope so anyway.

I don't see comments following the story, though.

Suuuure you're not familiar with Collins.......

Look, just like gay marriage, I don't give a shit. None of my business.

I don't give a shit about Jason Collins anymore than I did yesterday.

Life's short. Do what you wanna do.

Well, you should GaS about marriage inequality as marriage is the legal tie to so many benefits. It's a massive civil rights issue. Indefensible discrimination.

OldDawg wrote:Bottom line is, IF we accept that there is a God, then we don't get to make the rules.

That's part of the problem - God (if he/she exists) hasn't said what the rules are.

The "rules" as they are were created by people 1000 to 3000 years ago, depending on what Testament you're referring to and which version (re-write) of the Bible it is. And if some dude from 3000 years ago claims that he is speaking on behalf of God - that God told him this or that - I tend to be very skeptical.

The Old Testament was handed down from God in a mass revelation. It wasn't one man repeating what God had told him personally (which is what all other books and religions are based on - one man's word), it was witnessed by millions. History can obscure many things, but something which can be attested to by so many is hard to skew.

These... millions... that you speak of, uh, happen to have evidence of that that isn't based on the authors' word?

In other words, any evidence of these millions of eye witness accounts outside of the Bible itself?

He revealed himself at a Rolling Stones show. Not the band, just people rolling actual stones. It was a big event.

“None of us should go around wondering about what other people think we should be I think it’s very strong of (Collins). I’ve got the utmost respect for Jason. If you can play the game, then that’s all that matters at the end of the day.”

A much more thoughtful spin than when he was asked about John Amaechi back in 2007 when the retired English center came out. Here’s what LeBron had to say then:

“With teammates, you have to be trustworthy. If you’re gay and you’re not admitting that you are, you’re not trustworthy. It’s the locker room code; it’s a trust factor.”"